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Manchego Cheese Churros with Romesco Sauce

4 people
Easy

Prep time
20 mins

Cook time
10 mins

Total time
30 mins

Javier De La Hormaza

Recipe provided by

Javier De La Hormaza

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Ingredients

250ml water
110g unsalted butter
150g strong flour, use the ‘000’ type
2g caster sugar
2g salt
100g cured Manchego cheese, grated
2 large eggs
Sunflower oil for frying
Salt and extra grated Manchego cheese for sprinkling
For the romesco sauce:
2 whole red peppers, core and seeds removed, cut into halves
2 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 piece of stale bread, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
12 toasted marcona almonds
12 whole hazelnuts, skin off
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp sherry vinegar
½ tsp of cumin seeds
½ tsp of smoked paprika dulce
Salt and pepper to taste

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Introduction

Our savoury version of classic Spanish churros recipe adding Manchego cheese to the churros dough and serving them with a spicy romesco sauce made with roasted red peppers, garlic, spices, nuts, olive oil and sherry vinegar. This is a super tasty tapas dish that you can make in advance and simply fry the churros before serving with a sprinkle of grated Manchego.

Method

Pre-heat your oven grill.
Place the peppers halves, skin side up on a tray, drizzle with one tablespoon of the olive oil and place under the grill, until the skins are completely black all round. Remove from the grill, cover with a kitchen cloth or aluminium foil and allow the cooked peppers to rest and steam for 10 minutes. After this time, you will be able to peel them very easily. Cut the peppers into long strips and chop them into small pieces.
To make the romesco sauce, heat gently in a small frying pan the cumin seeds to release their oil, it takes about one minute. Pound the seeds in a pestle and mortar, until you obtain a fine powder. In a food processor or blender, add the roasted peppers, tomatoes, bread, garlic, almonds, hazelnuts, cumin, smoked paprika, the olive oil and sherry vinegar and blend lightly until you have a chunky paste with the consistency of a pesto. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Romesco sauce will taste better if you make it the day before for the flavours to blend.
To make the churro paste, bring the water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil. As soon as it starts boiling, turn the heat off and stir the flour in with a wooden spoon or spatula and mix the batter well to ensure there are no lumps left. Add the grated Manchego and mix well. You should be left with a smooth paste. Allow the paste to cool down for a couple of minutes and begin to add the eggs one at the time, beating the mix with a wooden spoon until the paste fully absorbs them.
Pre-heat the deep fat fryer to 180˚C or heat 4 inches of oil in a large heavy based frying pan. Place the churro paste into a piping bag with a star nozzle. For best results, it is important that you work with the paste whilst it is still warm. When the oil is hot, squeeze from the piping bag a long churro, piping as far as the length of the fryer or pan can fit, when you reach the end use a small knife to cut the paste from pouring any further. Use a pair of tongs to dip the churro in the oil, once the churro has a golden brown colour, turn to the other side and fry again until golden, be careful as they will not take long.
Remove carefully from the oil, strain the oil excess on the kitchen towel and sprinkle with salt and grated Manchego. Repeat this process with the rest of the batter mix.
Serve the churros in a platter or wrapped in newspaper with some romesco sauce on the side.